BY K.B.NAIR

LOS ANGELES, CA -  India’s official entry for the Oscars, ‘Harish Chandrachi Factory’ in Marathi  directed by Paresh Mokashi and Laxmikant Shetgaonkar’s  ‘The Man Beyond the Bridge’ (Paltadacho Munis) in Konkani  walked away with the Audience and Grand Jury Best Narrative Feature Awards respectively at the 2010 Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles (IFFLA) held at the Arc Light Hollywood Cinemas over April 20 to 25.The former tells the story of  the pioneer of  Indian Cinema Dadasaheb Phalke’s fascinating  historic venture into the world of making films while the latter deals with the tale of  a lonely forest ranger who extends a compassionate hand to a mute mate woman when an unlikely relationship develops.

The announcements came at the conclusion of the festival on the night of April 25 just prior to the screening of the final movie  after the projection  of  33 films  from 5 countries selected from over 350 entries which included  4 world premiers and 7 US premieres over 6 days.

The festival hosted over 7,000 attendees at ArcLight Hollywood and had numerous sold out screenings.  IFFLA Executive Director Christina Marouda said, “This year’s festival has been a great opportunity to celebrate the work of known Indian filmmakers and introduce a new generation of talent as they enter a global filmmaking community. The 2010 award winners have proven to captivate IFFLA’s audience with their unique and varied vision.  Through its eight year history, IFFLA has established itself as an important annual event through which one can chart the evolution of the convergence of the Hollywood and Indian entertainment industries.”

Chairman of the Board Arnold Peter added “IFFLA’s industry-related events reached new heights of excellence and creativity.” Briefly charting the history of IFFLA he expressed that the Founder, Marouda, was the inspiration behind its remarkable success.

The only disruption of plans at the Festival was caused by the threat of rain on the opening night when the red carpet was moved into the private  upper lobby inside the theater which took away a part of the glamor which fortunately was all there at  the closing ceremony which was held as traditionally in the open. All visitors to the theaters in the complex enjoyed  watching  the stream of  film makers and stars in their glamorous attire walk down the aisle as they were  met with a flood of camera  flashes and frenzied  thrust of  recorders for their comments.

The main attraction of  the opening gala was the gutsy Liza Ray , just out of  treatment  and in remission from  multiple myeloma. The spotlight was on  Mallika Sherawat for the closing gala who strutted down the carpet  in a shocking pink outfit accompanied by her costar Gerry Bednob in the soon to be released film “ Politics of Love.”  Many of  the young South Asians who are now part of the Hollywood scene were also present at the events such as Kunal Nayyar,Ravi Patel, Rupak Ginn, Omi Vaidya, Ravi Patel , Snehal Patel , Kavi Ladnier, etc.

The screening of the opening night film “ Cooking With Stella”  was attended by the film’s Director Dilip Mehta , Music Composer Amritha Fernandez Bakshi and actor Lisa Ray. Prior to the screening Peter Arnold announced that a portion  of the proceeds of the evening would be donated to the Institute for Myeloma and Brain Cancer Research. Thanking IFFLA the Institute’s  Founder Dr Jim Berenson  conveyed the happy news that just a decade ago, a person with the myeloma  had just a couple of years to live but thanks to research as many as 100,000 Americans are living full lives today cancer free. He commended Lisa Ray for her courage and the inspiration she has provided to many by coming out in the open about her affliction . Being a Canadian production, the Consul General from the country, David Fransen was also present and took a few minutes to express his appreciation of the South Asian community’s contributions in all fields in their adopted homeland. The closing screening of “The Waiting City” was attended by its Australian Director Claire McCarthy and actors Radha Mitchell and Samrat Chakrabarti.

 The IFFLA Industry Leadership Award honored Fox International Productions President Sanford Panitch and Uday Shankar, CEO of STAR India, with a personal tribute from Bollywood megastar Shak Rukh Khan. Educational panels featured an informative panel on alternative distribution platforms moderated by Blair Westlake, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Media and Entertainment Group; a presentation of cutting edge technology by Alan Silvers, Vice President International Operations for Reliance MediaWorks as well as a panel on the future of talent representation from a global perspective.

In its popular Bollywood By Night Series for adults only, viewers were able to sit back sipping a cocktail and watch  a director’s cut version of  “My Name is Khan,” and a newly digitally mastered print of “ Ashes to Ashes (Raakh)” and recent  blockbusters “3 Idiots” and “ Kaminey”

 On April 22, the festival celebrated Earth Day with IFFLA EcoVision, the festival’s initiative to reduce its ecological footprint . The IFFLA Rhythm Village presented by Rukus Avenue offered a vibrant and eclectic selection of  free live performances by  several popular artists to all festival and Arclight guests in the evenings. 

Award Winners :
GRAND JURY AWARDS:
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE: THE MAN BEYOND THE BRIDGE
DIR/SCR: Laxmikant Shetgaonkar
Cast: Chitranjan Giri, Veena Jomkar, Prasanthi Talpanker, Vasanth Josalkar, Deepak Amonkar
HONORABLE MENTION: COOKING WITH STELLA
DIR/CO-SCR: Dilip Mehta
Cast: Seema Biswas, Lisa Ray, Don McKellar
 BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: AT MY DOORSTEP
DIR/ED: Nishta Jain
HONORABLE MENTION: NERO’S GUESTS
DIR: Deepa Bhatia
BEST SHORT FILM: GAREEB NAWAZ’S TAXI
DIR: Ritesh  Batra
HONORABLE MENTION: WAHID’S MOBILE BOOKSTORE
DIR/PROD: Anjoo Khosla
AUDIENCE AWARDS:
NARRATIVE: HARISHCHANDRACHI FACTORY
DIR/SCR: Paresh Mokashi
Cast: Nandu Madhav, Vibhavari Desphande, Atharva Karve, Mohit Gokhale
 DOCUMENTARY: THE SUN BEHIND THE CLOUDS: TIBET’S STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM
DIR: Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
SHORT: KUNJO
DIR: Terrie Samundra